Page 25 of Playing His Game

“Because you’re obviously very proud and supportive, and it’s not like you don’t have the money.”

“In two weeks for opening night,” Mo admitted. He cast a rueful look Adam’s way.

A tickle of an idea came to him. “Do they know? Sage? That you’re coming?”

“No. I mean, I said I’d come, but I haven’t told them about opening night.”

It was a shame Adam’s own work schedule meant he couldn’t go with to see the look of pride on Mo’s face or the shock on Sage’s. Maybe he could’ve managed New York, but not London.

He played that thought back. Ridiculous. He didn’t want to go—well, at least Mo wouldn’t want him to.

“I bet they already suspect. Knowing you,” Adam said, because he didn’t know what else to say and also he suspected he was right.

Mo laughed. “Maybe. I’ve always been known for dramatics. And I am their biggest stan.” He cast a grin in Adam’s direction, taking his eyes off the uneven path, and stumbled. Rocks clattered. Instinctively, Adam gripped Mo’s arm to steady him and noted the corded muscle under his palm. Mo might be small and slight, but clearly, his time spent in the garage paid off.

“Thanks.” The tops of Mo’s cheeks were red, but given the heat and exertion, it probably didn’t have anything to do with Adam.

“No problem. Just repay the favor when it’s my turn?” He smiled, and Mo nodded.

“Of course.”

A dog barked, and Adam jerked towards the sound. A large chocolate Lab trotted around a bend in the route ahead, sniffing and investigating. A second later, a solitary hiker emerged as well.

Which was when Adam suddenly realized that they were standing in the middle of the path like a couple of idiots. And he was still holding on to Mo’s arm.

He jerked back and blushed. Mo watched him with one eyebrow raised, but he didn’t say anything.

The Lab, clearly well trained, perked up when it got closer but didn’t try to bowl either of them over. Instead, it gently sniffed their shoes, wagged its tail, and offered its head for a few pats. Adam obliged it. Its ears were so soft.

The hiker didn’t seem to recognize Adam or Mo, merely nodded at them as they passed by, and the dog gave Adam a lick before trotting after its human.

Alone again, Adam looked back at Mo, who was still watching Adam with an unreadable look.

Adam cleared his throat. “Whose turn is it?”

It was another second before Mo started moving again. “Mine, I think. Why don’t you have a pet? Seems like you miss it.”

“That obvious?” Adam navigated a particularly rocky part of the trail before answering. “I’d like to. It seems mean, though. I’m gone a lot. They’d miss me.”

“It’s not like you couldn’t hire a pet-sitter.”

True, but that wasn’t the same as the animals having their person around. “Are you volunteering?”

Behind him, Mo huffed in amusement—just as Adam’s foot slipped on some loose scree. He would’ve landed on his ass, but Mo caught him by the belt loop—surprisingly steady considering Adam had to outweigh him by more than fifty pounds.

Mo tugged his shorts sharply enough that Adam turned to look at him. “I think it’s a little early in our fake relationship to adopt a pet together. You good?”

Right. “Good,” Adam agreed.

Mo unhooked his fingers and patted his hip. “Now we’re even.”

By the time they’d made it most of the way through the trail, Adam was mentally patting himself on the back. He definitely understood Mo better now. Obviously, people weren’t justbornspoiled brats. Something happened to make them that way. If Adam had had parents who foisted him off on the neighbors every summer, he’d probably be spoiled too. Hell, in a lot of ways, hehadbeen spoiled more than Mo. Putting a kid in hockey wasn’t cheap, and his parents had way less resources than Mo’s.

At some point, they moved out of their tit-for-tat question-and-answer session and started trading stories of their misspent youths. They might have had different upbringings, but Mo’s New York college stories matched up to some of Adam’s from juniors, at least if you ignored the ages and the amount of money spent on each shenanigan.

“…So then Sage’s roommate gets back to their dorm room after class to get ready for her date and none of her clothes are there. Not one pair of underwear. Not even a sock.”

She had it coming. Not only borrowing Sage’s clothes without asking, but leaving her own stuff in stinking piles on the floor when her roommate had a broken foot? “What did Sage do with it all?”